Press Releases

INVITATION: Public Launch of the HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2003
"Millennium Development Goals: A compact among nations to end human poverty"

Ottawa, July 2, 2003. The United Nations Association in Canada and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) cordially invite you to take part in the Canadian launch of the Human Development Report 2003. This year's launch will take place on Tuesday, July 8 at 9:30 a.m. at the National Press Club. The event will feature both the presentation of the Report and reactions in terms of specific issues and significant indicators.

The 14th edition of the annual Human Development Report, commissioned by the UNDP offers a timely analysis of the range of human development in the world, noting that it is vast and uneven, with astounding progress in some areas, amidst stagnation and dismal decline in others. Balance and stability in the world will require the commitment of all nations, rich and poor, and a global development compact to extend the wealth of possibilities to all people.

In a call for partnership between rich and poor countries, the 2003 Report outlines new approaches to aid and development. The pledge by world leaders to lift hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty by 2015 can be achieved - but only if poor countries pursue wide-ranging reforms and wealthy nations respond with improved trade terms and increased aid.

The Human Development Report 2003 introduces a new plan of action - the "Millennium Development Contract" to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The eight goals, endorsed by all Members of the UN, set out a series of time-bound and quantifiable targets ranging from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015. The Human Development Report 2003 also includes and updates the widely respected Human Development Index (HDI) that compares the relative levels of human development in 175 countries, and presents data tables on various aspects of human development (including an important poverty index). In previous years Canada has regularly stood at or near the top of the HDI (3rd in 2002).

Mr. Normand Lauzon, Executive Secretary of the UNDP Capital Development Fund, will officially launch the 2003 Report. His presentation will be followed by comments by a senior official of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and by John Foster, Senior Researcher at the North-South Institute.

For more information please contact Joan Broughton, UNA-Canada's Public Information Officer at: (613) 232-5751 ext 230 (email joan@unac.org)

NOTE: Copies of the Report may well not be available for non-journalists at the launch but orders will be taken ( $40.50 plus GST ).